Alex Hallee

About Me


My name is Alex, and I'm a game designer and programmer based in Wisconsin, USA. I've been making games since high-school when I took an introductory game design class, and I've been hooked ever since. My goal is to create games that inspire or motivate people in the same way they've moved me!

My most recent work was as a general game developer for Glumberland, specifically for their game Ooblets! I worked on a huge variety of things ranging from bug fixes, cutscenes, input rebinding, AI, community interaction, and more! I also like knowing about all the different facets of game dev so I've taught myself things like 3D modeling, rigging, audio editing, and image editing.

My other hobbies enjoy playing piano, biking, and obsessing over cut content in gamecube games. Fun facts: I'm technically a credited voice actor, I once got a hole-in-one while frisbee golfing, and I stream games and various creative things a few times a week!

If you have any questions or inquiries, I'm more than happy to respond through my email at [email protected] or through Twitter!


Professional Work


Glumberland - Ooblets

Role: Game Developer | Remote | 7/23/21 - 1/31/23

Ooblets is a farming, creature collection, and town life game where you build up your farm, befriend townsfolk, grow ooblets, and have dance-offs. I was hired as a general developer to help fix bugs and add new content content to the game, ranging a wide variety of things. Some of my work included:

  • Creating the new player-run shop gameplay system from a vague design doc, from which I solidified the idea into a fully functioning gameplay loop that includes complex customer AI logic that I designed myself
  • Being one of the main developers in charge of bug fixes and quality of life changes
  • Rewriting all input logic and implementing a new system to allow input-remapping and support for controllers such as the Switch Joycons
  • Interacting with the community to assist with broken save files and bugs

Personal Projects


Farming Fatigue - Game Jam (2022)

Ludum Dare Entry Page | Itch.io Page

Farming Fatigue is a reverse tower defense game where you plant down enemies on your farmland. Survive as long as you can, while collecting crystals to get upgrades and the highest score possible!

This game was made in Unity over three days for Ludum Dare 51 with a team of three others. I was the sole programmer for the project, with the rest of the team focusing on art, design aspects, and music. Out of 2421 submissions, our game won 8th for art and 24th overall!



Goopify - Windows Application (2023)

Github Repo

This is a standalone windows application I made specifically for adding pollution to levels in Super Mario Sunshine. The program reads in a 3d model and uses a combation of property windows and an OpenTK 3D viewer in order to allow the user to fully customize the way that pollution would cover the level ingame. It then outputs the proper 3D models and data files that SMS uses to properly add the pollution. Some technical components of this include:

  • Converting data from uncommon file types into usable info
  • Cutting, transforming, UV unwrapping, and cleaning up a 3D model through code
  • Rendering/texturing models and editor properties in OpenTK
  • Undo/redo logic for a raycast-based painting system and 3D selection region system


Rekindled - Game Jam (2023)

Itch.io Page

Rekindled is a horror-themed dungeon crawler where the player must try to escape the pitch-black cave they find themselves in. Use your lantern and matches to illuminate your path, avoiding traps and creatures hiding in the dark.

This game was made in Unity over a week for the Dungeon Crawler Game Jam, with the theme being "duality". With the exception of some sound effects and the music track, I created everything for this jam. Some technical parts of this jam include a custom lighting pipeline, enemy AI and targeting based on player light level, and an expandable interaction system.



Inconvenience Store - School Game (2021)

Itch.io Page

Inconvenience Store is a party game with wacky physics where you play as grocery store employees competing in a gauntlet of store based mini games to become employee of the month. Interact with the environment with your friends in competition or just for fun!

This game was made over the course of a year in the Unity engine for my Senior game design class. The team consisted of five other programmers and six artists. The game has player customization, 5 separate minigames, a sandbox level, tons of unique interactable objects, support for up to 8 local players, and even has a simple online multiplayer system using port forwarding. Some of my work included:

  • Implimenting the networked muultiplayer
  • Coworking on the active ragdoll player controller
  • Creating the logic for the checkout minigame
  • Assisting in the design and logic of the gameplay


Light Within The Darkness - School Game (2020)

Intel Game Page

Light Within the Darkness is a 2D point-and-click horror game that uses a 3D projection map that allows you 360 degrees of view. The game is heavily inspired by the horror works of H.P. Lovecraft, and the player plays as someone investigating a Victorian mansion overrun by otherworldly monsters. Follow the clues, avoid the monsters, escape the mansion.

This game was made in the Phaser 3 engine over the course of a semester for my GDD 325 class. The team consisted of three artists and one other programmer. This game actually got picked to represent UW Stout at the Intel Showcase at GDC! Some of the things I did for this project include:

  • Learning an unfamiliar game engine and the loosly documented 3D plugin
  • Learning and implimenting shader effects
  • Implimenting 2D to 3D logic for movement and cursor input


Pyronature - School Game (2016)

Windows Download | Mac Download

This was my first ever game that I completed, I worked on it for the entirity of a semester during my senior year of high-school. The zelda-like action adventure game was created completly solo for the game design category Future Business Leaders of America competition, with the theme being an arcade styled educational game. I ended up qualifying for the national competition in California after winning 2nd in state!


Other Works


3D Level Design

I'm a huge fan of 3D platformers, so I've been occasinally making a mix of large multi-goal stages and short linear stages to try to practice my level design skills. All of them were modeled by myself and playtested inside Super Mario Sunshine. I've gotten some very positive feedback, and it's been a great learning experience for both my modeling and designing skills!



Shader Work

Shaders in games have always impressed me, so I've spent some time learning how they work. I've tried to keep it varied too by using GLSL, HLSL, and Unity's shader lab. I wouldn't consider myself an expert but I really enjoyed the work I've done, and it's helped me understand a lot more about rendering!



Concepts

I love finding weird ways that people can interact with code and vice-versa. So I've worked on a few tiny proof-of-concept things to test them out! Hoping to do more in the future, always seems like a forgotten part of coding.